From the Cougars’ acceptance of an invitation to the Big East Conference to a football season that saw the team reach rare heights and national exposure, many of those changes were for the better.

This week, UH students voted to ensure that another of those changes — upgrades to athletic facilities — will come sooner rather than later.

In what was the largest turnout in school history, University of Houston students overwhelmingly voted for an increase in the student service fee to help fund the construction of a football stadium and renovation of Hofheinz Pavilion, the school announced Thursday morning.

The UH Student Government Association put a $45 per-semester, per-student fee increase to a student referendum, and it passed by a wide margin as 73.9 percent of the voting body approved the increase. A record 9,923 students hit the polls Tuesday and Wednesday, and 7,334 of them voted in favor of the fee increase. Just 2,589 voted against the measure, which needed a majority to pass.

The fee increase must be approved by the UH board of regents before it can be implemented. If passed by the board of regents, it would be implemented beginning in the fall semester of this year. The regents are expected to meet on the issue in March.

“It has a chance to be a game-changer for us,” athletic director Mack Rhoades said. “When you look at the big picture and everything that’s happened over the course of the last year, from football success to the (move to the) Big East and preparing to go into a BCS conference, being able to now expedite the construction of the stadium and the renovation of Hofheinz so that we’re prepared when we enter into the Big East is huge.”

Large turnout

With 26.1 percent of the student body casting votes, it was the largest turnout for a student referendum, vice president of student affairs Richard Walker said. The previous high was 15 percent for a 1998 referendum involving the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, which passed.

The facility was completed in 2003.

“I really thought that the student body has a great opportunity to be able to participate in this vote, and it was a privilege to change the future of this university,” UH student body president Michael Harding said. “I was amazed with this turnout, and it’s the best turnout we’ve had with any referendum in the past. It showed the awareness and the pride that the student body has and the confidence they have in athletics and the university in general.”

UH has plans in motion for a new football stadium that will replace its current facility, Robertson Stadium. The school is planning to break ground in December for the project, which will cost a projected $120 million. There are also plans for an estimated $40 million renovation of Hofheinz Pavilion, but a timetable for the start of that project hasn’t been determined.

But the news of the vote means there won’t be delays in the process, Rhoades said. UH has raised approximately $60 million for the projects.

“We have, to date, raised more money than has ever been raised here (for an athletics project),” Rhoades said. “We need to get at or north of $75 million. So we need to work hard to do that. We certainly feel good that we can get there, but we’re going to need the community to support us as well.”

According to the Memorandum of Understanding between athletics and the SGA, should the athletic department surpass its fundraising goal prior to the issuance of debt for the projects, it will recommend a reduction in the fee.

As part of the agreement, the athletic department will work to expand academic partnerships with the communication school, the hotel and restaurant management school, and the college of liberal arts and social sciences (specifically, kinesiology and sports administration). The Moores School of Music will receive approximately 20,000 square feet of additional classroom space inside the new stadium’s academic building.

Additional uses

Also, students would have access to the new football stadium and arena to host intramural championship games and special events each year, rent-free. An SGA representative will be employed to participate in the design process for both facilities.

Rhoades said the athletic department has also offered naming rights to the students, but it remains to be seen how that plays out. The athletic department will continue to seek naming-rights partners outside the school, Rhoades said.

SGA senator Jared Gogets, who authored the referendum bill, said he sees the improvement in athletics and its facilities having a positive impact on the campus.

“I’ve always been a strong believer since I introduced the bill in the Flutie effect,” Gogets said. “We may not be able to raise academic standards because of a new stadium, but it’s going to increase visibility, it’s going to increase the flood of applicants coming in, and we can be more selective of who we let into UH and who’s coming in here. And really, it gives us visibility for people out there who have the gifts and the talents to make us academically strong. Athletics is your biggest marketing tool, hands down, and it’s the cheapest marketing tool.”